Mar 19, 2012 - Another week rolls by without a major UFC event, and another MMA-packed weekend cuddles up and fills the void.

Besides the usual offerings from Bellator and The Ultimate Fighter, we saw a slew of old-school PRIDE names this weekend. Guys like Aleks Emelianenko, Jeff Monson and John Alessio hit the stage, and even good old Gabe Ruediger got in on the action. Add in the NCAA wrestling championships and the latest visual evidence in the to-touch-gloves-or-not debate, and that's a pretty full plate we've got on the table. So if you missed any of it, or you just want to see Rashad Evans accuse Jon Jones of dressing up in drag, catch up with today's edition of the Morning Report.

Mar 20, 2012 - Let's just talk as adults for a second. It's absurd for mixed martial arts to be banned in the year 2012. The stereotype of ‘human cockfighting' doesn't exist anymore. States like New York keep this pretense up solely for political purposes.

Well, get ready to hear a new excuse.

According to several recent reports, the great state of Oklahoma has threatened to join the ranks of the old-timers in a slightly different way. Not only is MMA on the chopping block, but so is the rest of combat sports. Permits for boxing and even professional wrestling will no longer be accepted effective March 31, 2012. The reason? Just a little ruckus with the Zuffa brass.

5 MUST-READ STORIESBattle between UFC and Oklahoma on PPV revenue leads to statewide ban on MMA. The Oklahoma Athletic Commission has imposed regulations to deny applications for combat sports events after March 31, 2012, due to a disagreement with the UFC regarding the state's 4-percent pay-per-view tax.Suing UFC fans isn't the way to combat Internet piracy. Ben Fowlkes presents the most logical response to the UFC's odd declaration that fans who stream pay-per-view events aren't actually fans at all.Three bouts announced for UFC 148. Tim Boetsch vs. Michael Bisping, Renan Barao vs. Jeff Hougland, and Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin highlight the latest high-profile additions to UFC 148.Video roundup: 2012 NCAA D-1 wrestling championships. Scout out the next MMA star with a collection of the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships' top moments.Judo chop: front kicks with Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, Josh Thomson. Fraser Coffeen busts out the gifs to breakdown the Karate Kid technique that took 2011 by storm.

Mar 21, 2012 - If we can, let's rewind a couple weeks to March 2, 2012. Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey are doing their thing, Strikeforce weigh-ins go off without a hitch, and then Bryan Caraway says some unfortunate things about knocking Rousey's teeth in.

Now, as a man, making public statements about beating women probably isn't the smartest idea. But a funny thing happens the next night. Miesha Tate's arm is nearly snapped in half. Twice.

And a minor debate pops up in the MMA community: could Rousey actually defeat Caraway? Of course, the arguments were purely speculative, because sanctioned MMA matches between men and women could never happen. But, that's not entirely true.

5 MUST-READ STORIESFort Hood Combatives tournament featured Man vs. Woman MMA matches. Recent matches at Fort Hood's U.S. Army Combative Championships featured no gender divisions, meaning men and women were pitted against each other.Anthony Pettis to undergo surgery, out eight weeks. According to intrepid journalist Chael P. Sonnen, "Showtime" will be out for eight weeks due to upcoming surgery, and when he comes back, it'll be at 155 pounds.Ian McCall vs. Demetrious Johnson rematch official. Uncle Creepy vs. Mighty Mouse for the flyweight semi-finals has been added to UFC on FX 3, which is slated for June 8, 2012.About that Mirko Cro Cop retiring thing, yeah, that may not be true. Cro Cop revealed he may be over the retirement hump and mulling a return to K-1 or MMA.The wrestling draft: which NCAA stars are headed for MMA? Luke Thomas takes a look at today's best collegiate wrestlers and graduating seniors who could possibly make the leap to MMA stardom.

Mar 22, 2012 - Canada may not be setting the sports world on fire right now, but our affable northern neighbors undoubtedly won the MMA lottery on Wednesday.

Not only did resident national hero Georges St. Pierre offer a positive status report (and seem surprisingly open to an Anderson Silva superfight), but somewhere amongst yesterday's 40 different fight announcements, word slipped out that the Canadians would play host to six different UFC pay-per-view events over the next two years.

And the headliner for the first one? None other than the most feared featherweight alive -- mister Jose Aldo Jr. Not a bad haul for one day, eh? (Sorry, that was just awful.)

5 MUST-READ STORIESUFC announces events in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal for 2012. UFC President Dana White announced a trio of upcoming events slated throughout Canada for both 2012 and 2013.Georges St. Pierre hoping for November return. St. Pierre is on target for a November return to action, and though Carlos Condit is in his sights, "Rush" still left the door open for a potential superfight with Anderson Silva.Jake Ellenberger vs. Martin Kampmann booked for Ultimate Fighter Finale main event. Jake "The Juggernaut" Ellenberger and Martin "The Hitman" Kampmann will meet in a primetime welterweight clash on June 1st, 2012.Randy Couture talks Fedor Emelianenko. Couture took a break from Hollywood to discuss his retirement, his son Ryan's budding fight career, and the dream match-up with Fedor Emelianenko that never materialized.Rio de Janeiro soccer stadium to host Silva-Sonnen 2. Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II has shifted from Sau Paulo, Brazil to a Rio de Janeiro soccer stadium expected to seat 80,000 crazed fight fans.

Morning Report: Three Steps to Winning a Bellator Tournament Without Even Fighting

Quote:

Mar 23, 2012 - It's official. Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos is the strangest and least satisfying 84-second rivalry in the history of mixed martial arts.
If you're Prindle right now, how exactly are you supposed to feel when you earn $100,000 for: 1.) getting your testicle soccer kicked so hard, you wind up in the hospital with an injury that takes three months to heal, 2.) training for four months to avenge your manhood, only to have the opportunity delayed another seven days because you get a touch of the flu and your rival is toeing the line of being illegally large, and then, 3.) large rival has another week to stop cultivating mass, yet he somehow comes in larger than ever before.

At that point, haven't you kind of earned that paycheck? So congratulations Eric Prindle, on your Bellator Season 5 heavyweight tournament win. Onwards to Cole Konrad.

5 MUST-READ STORIESEric Prindle wins $100K Bellator tournament, will challenge Cole Konrad. Thiago Santos missed weight by 11 pounds at Thursday night's Bellator 62 weigh-ins, leading to the cancellation of his heavyweight match-up against Eric Prindle. As a result, Bellator officials declared Prindle the winner of the Season 5 heavyweight tournament, earning the former soldier $100,000 and a title shot against Cole Konrad.The hurt business: a big night on small scene. Grudge Training Center's lesser-known members fight for recognition and meager paychecks on a local Denver fight card in part three of Ben Fowlkes' ongoing series that examines the hidden lives of pro MMA fighters.UFC's TUF: Brazil broadcast schedule, fight-in bouts. Opening round match-ups have been released for The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, which is slated to debut this Sunday at 11:30 p.m. EST and can be seen by non-Brazilian audiences on a UFC-owned microsite.Ronda Rousey to be featured in ESPN's Body Issue. "Rowdy" Ronda will join the likes of Jon Jones and Gina Carano as the next MMA star to strip down for ESPN's annual 'Body Issue.'Justin.tv wins partial dismissal of UFC lawsuit. Online live video streaming service Justin.tv won a partial dismissal of a lawsuit Zuffa, LLC brought against them for illegal broadcasts of UFC 121.

Mar 26, 2012 - Well folks, we're halfway there. 21 days up, 21 days down, and now just 21 days left until the UFC hits with a blistering summer lineup.

If you missed it, The Ultimate Fighter: Live and Bellator found a new weekend friend -- TUF: Brazil (which can be seen in its entirety here). Given that Brazilians make up 43-percent of the current UFC champions, expectations for the first international TUF season were understandably high, but if your violence quota was in any way lacking, it admirably filled the void. Plus, where else could we hear Wanderlei Silva bragging about his junk? (More on that later.)

MEDIA STEWWhere else but a Japanese game show could you see Cyborg Santos duke it out with a shockingly capable male comedian? This battle of the sexes actually gets pretty heated. (HT:Bloody Elbow)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yv2emxFQ1kAnother under the radar nugget from the weekend: Sergei Kharitonov returned to action for the first time since his Strikeforce loss to Josh Barnett. Now watch this ridiculousness and tell me you wouldn't love to see him on the UFC's all-heavyweight card.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB35iakoYekThree weeks into TUF 15 and not only is Team Cruz dominating the Octagon, they're crushing the YouTube battle as well. Check out The Dominator clowning on Faber in this reenactment. Nice extra touch: the sharpie'd Faber chin.www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-KAzuPez1oToday's episode of This Week in Questionable Reffing comes from CFC 12, featuring Mark "The Great White Shark" Potter knocking out Larry Watts, a guy wearing a t-shirt waving off the bout, but not actually waving off the bout, and the bout continuing for another one-sided 30 seconds. (HT: Cagepotato)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsB2AknJc0o
Easily the best part of last night's TUF: Brazil debut:

Mar 27, 2012 - Another lazy spring afternoon passes and we're again left to make our own fun until the MMA schedule picks back up. So while we wait, let's use the contrast of yesterday's and today's odd Japanese game show clips to kickstart a little discussion.

Ronda Rousey is unquestionably the queen bee of women's mixed martial arts right now. Her next test will likely be Sarah Kaufman -- a relentless Canadian who poses her own problems -- but for the sake of argument, let's say "Rowdy" does what she does and finishes Kaufman in the first round via armbar, and then offs one more opponent in the same fashion. Around that time, the exiled former queen bee, Cris "Cyborg" Santos, would likely be priming for her return, and she has already made it very clear she intends to cut down to 135 pounds and smash Rousey's face in. Santos, of course, has violently ruled the WMMA throne since 2009, though now that reign is plagued with doubt because of her positive steroid test.

Given the dearth of depth in the women's divisions, it isn't that crazy to think "Cyborg" would be immediately thrown into a promoter's dream title fight against Rousey. So what do you think, readers? Would "Cyborg" return with a vengeance and crush the champ? Or would the rowdy one run through a PED-less Santos? Let us know in the comments below.

5 MUST-READ STORIESThe MMA Hour. Ariel Helwani and The MMA Hour return with another two-plus hour show that features Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney in studio, as well as interviews with Phil Davis, Miguel Torres, Rory MacDonald, Eddie Alvarez and Tom "Kong" Watson.Cesar Gracie not going to let Nick Diaz quit MMA. The person closest to Nick Diaz, his brother Nate, believes his abrupt retirement is for real. Diaz's trainer Cesar Gracie, however, isn't about to watch that happen.Silva-Sonnen II confirmed for UFC 147. MMA's biggest rematch is finally on the books for UFC 147, as Chael Sonnen will take on Anderson Silva at the 47,000-seat Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 23, 2012.The Ultimate Fighter 15 ratings. The third episode of TUF: Live aired last Friday night and averaged 1.2 million viewers on FX.Top trainer Freddie Roach lists top five boxers in MMA. Legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach broke down his list of the top five boxers in mixed martial arts.

MEDIA STEW
Check out the sequel to yesterday's Battle of the Sexes between Cyborg Santos and a Japanese man. This time the champ herself, Ronda Rousey, ups the ante by taking on three Japanese men in a clip from the same bizarre game show. (Big thanks to reader @pegson for the tip.)http://youtu.be/i9-xgA2ukAM
Has there ever been a UFC commercial that prominently featuring an English-speaking Anderson Silva? Maybe that's why this UFC on FOX promo seems a tad weird. (HT: MMA Mania)http://youtu.be/hmaMXX6e47M
Speaking of Anderson Silva, his old buddy Mr. Chael P. Sonnen had some choice words after the champ said Sonnen should stop talking and start training. (HT: Middle Easy)http://youtu.be/QV5iUTLDSU4
Mark Matheny is known as one of the better refs in MMA, so you'd figure he has reasonably good judgment. But after watching what he does in his spare time, that dream has been thoroughly crushed.http://youtu.be/nrCHn_prfwg
Bloody Elbow's Anton Tabuena brought this to our attention and it felt criminal not to share. Fresh from a loss to Johny Hendricks, Jon Fitch set out on a beard conquest of sizable proportions. Several weeks later he showed off the progress via Twitter, and it was impressive:

But springtime is coming, so earlier this week Fitch stepped up his facial hair game dramatically, shaving down the all-arounder into a legendary 'stache that would make Sam Elliot proud. Well done, sir. Well done.